PURTON’S fine start to the campaign continued at the weekend as they dispatched Malmesbury by five wickets.

Aaron Lee’s side maintained their unbeaten start to season and are second in the table.

Having removed Malmesbury opener Michael Collison and Mark Toseland early on, George Royle then repaired the damage for the visitors as he helped them to 120-2 before Patrick Whitaker had him caught by Xander Pitchers for 75.

Once Royle fell, the visitors collapsed like a house of cards and they were dismissed in the 50th over for 178, with skipper Lee and Imran Ashraf both picking up three wickets each.

“I suppose that it wasn’t the greatest of starts for us after getting that early wicket as they recovered to 120-2,” Lee said.

“George Royle batted well for them - he chanced his arm a little.

“Maybe we didn’t bowl as well as we could have done but once we broke that partnership, we got them out pretty quickly. It was just another patient bowling display.

“When you look at the side we had on Saturday, it was a good display.

“We missing three all-rounders and it is a testament to the strength in depth that we have at the club in that we were able to cope with their absence.

“We were also without Tom Bowler and he is my vice-captain and a key player for us.

“Most sides in this league have got one or two really good batsmen, but once you got them out or the other batsmen around them out, you get through a side.

“You just have to be patient and that is what we did on Saturday, maybe we could have been a little bit more clinical, but that is just nit-picking.”

Purton’s reply got off to a shaky start, with overseas opener Pitchers back in the hutch in the first over without troubling the scorers.

However, the hosts saw Sam Shelford and Deepak Ramani steady the ship before Sam Collier (54) and Lachlan Beggs (44) saw them to virtual victory with a fifth-wicket stand of 90 before success was brought up in the 40th over.

“That is three wins on the bounce now, throughout the club, from the midweek side to the teams at the weekend, we are all picking up wins,” Lee said.

“We lost Xander in the first over and still managed to go on and get the win despite him not contributing. Sam Collier and Lachlan both did really, Sam got a good 50.

“It was good that we managed to get home quite comfortably in the end.”